Any good sorcerer knows his alchemy and Sorcery’s alchemy system is, thankfully, one of the best features of the game. Some of the potions Finn can create act as upgrades – health, mana and damage bonuses are all here. Potions are created by combining three ingredients, after first researching them, in a cauldron. In order to make the potion, you actually have to pour, grind or sprinkle ingredients into the pot using the Move controller and then stir the concoction; this may sound dull but in reality it’s surprisingly fun, and a nice departure from the usual action.
Various other bonuses can be gained from drinking potions, such as Heroic Strike, which allows you to smash the wand to the ground for a damaging and stunning attack, or even a potion which grants Finn the ability to turn into a pumpkin. With over fifty different combinations, it’s a deep system. The eight ingredients are introduced as you progress through the game; once an ingredient is discovered, they can be found in chests or bought from the salesman you’ll meet at certain points, in exchange for gold or treasures that you’ve found on your travels.
[drop]Potions are also activated with Move – after grabbing your required tonic, you must shake the controller and then raise it to your mouth in order to drink. This increases the immersion, and feels like second nature, so is a useful way to activate health potions without being too simple, adding a further challenge to the combat.As well as health and upgrade potions, certain points in the game offer you a polymorph potion which grants you the ability to turn into a nearby animal such as a rat or a bird. This transformation is generally necessary to complete some element of navigation, such as moving through a hole, up a rope or across the sky. These sections are at first quite linear and don’t appear to serve much purpose aside from changing the area, though later in the game there are a couple of these sections which are somewhat more action orientated.
Sorcery isn’t the prettiest of games – the art style is great and the design can be brilliant at points, but it looks somewhat dated. The style works, however, complimenting the setting and overall feel of Sorcery, whilst the majestic soundtrack – often upbeat – fits right in with the theme, too. I believe Finn’s voice acting could have been better, but it works and he truly does sound like a plucky, yet impatient young sorcerer. Erline, however, sounds great and, together, they make for a great duo.
There are puzzles too, though these are often simple tasks such as repeating a pattern or slowing down time in order to progress. These puzzles never really go deep enough; there’s nothing other than short alchemy sessions to give you a much needed break from the action.
When all is said and done, Sorcery is a successful, if shallow game. There’s nothing to do after completion except from replaying the main story – you can’t even select chapters or revisit areas to search for missed chests, and there’s no new game plus to carry your upgrades over with.
The camera, too, can be somewhat of an annoyance. Irritatingly you’re unable to directly control it, only centre it, so getting the correct angle is never easy.
Certain sections of Sorcery leave much to be desired; the cutscenes in non-storybook format could have easily been playable sections, and more immersion during these scenes would have been brilliant, even though there’s a hint of this in one powerful scene late in the game.
Despite the way it occasionally falters, there’s something extremely impressive about the way Sorcery comes together; whether it’s you, most likely a core gamer (forgive the terminology, I’m not fond of it either) since you’re on this corner or the internet, or a casual gamer – a child, or someone who just doesn’t play games of this calibre often – playing, there’s no doubt a lot of fun to be found in Sorcery. It hits that perfect mid-point between a complex game and a simple one, creating a fantastic, artistic balance.
Pros:
- Perhaps the best, most accurate use of motion controls in a game to date.
- It’s simply a lot of fun to play the game, and to play about with the different spells.
- Checks many boxes in both casual and core gaming.
- The artistic style is great, as are the two main characters.
- Alchemy system is entirely spellbinding.
Cons:
- A very linear and somewhat shallow affair.
- Some sections should have been fleshed out and made fully playable.
- The story isn’t anything particularly special, and can feel disjointed at times.
Sorcery is truly a game for people who want to get the most out of their PlayStation Move peripherals. And if it’s just that you want, you’ll no doubt love the eight or so hours of gameplay on offer. If you’re more interested in a deep, magical experience then you might feel somewhat short changed – throw away the motion controls and you’re left with a good, though not brilliant, and quite linear romp through this mythological, magical world.
This is a game not without its flaws, but it is without a doubt a very fun experience. Whilst Sorcery might not be the perfect reason to buy Move, it’s definitely worth a look if you already own – and enjoy using – the peripherals on which this game was built for. And that’s exactly what it is: a game built, from the ground up, for Move; it’s very successful in that regard.
Tomhlord
I was always intrigued to see how this came out. Will be buying. Along with PixelJunk 4am, seems like a good time to dust off those Move controllers.
BLAGGER
Pixeljunk 4am is great IMO, I spent about 7 hours of the weekend making tunes and throwing shapes!
RudeAwakening
Yea defo picking up Pixeljunk 4am looks class.
gfjsdfwe
Spam. nob. ~cb
Bilbo_bobbins
so glad you accept pyapal payments, I’ll be there in a jiffy
Bilbo_bobbins
a good review there, but just hasn’t got the zap to get me to buy it.
parryman
Will pick this up. Need to justify buying Move eventually.
And, yes, I am 1 of the 7 people who did buy the stupid little analogue thingy.
McProley
I knew there was more than just me who baught it!
Klart
I picked up the Move as well and did not regret it as I need it for shooters like HotD.
B1ack_Magic
I bought it too. Used it for a few things though, Heavy Rain, Dead Space and more.
matthangzhou
Mine has died since the last time it was used. Not impressed!
wirralsman
Will probably pick this game up at some point, the Move controllers haven’t seen the light of day since Sports Champions!
GamingBlueBoy
I won’t be in a rush to get this either, might get it with LBP Vita at the end of June.
gaffers101
I’m so glad this is a half decent game. My Move has been sitting at the back of a drawer gathering dust, it’ll be great to dust of my little glowing ball ;)
job
still playing hotd overkill on a regular basis so might give this a try.
tonycawley
This had to be a 9 or 10 to tempt me, 7s are the new 5s. I know Tsa uses the full scale but there’s so many 8s, 9s and 10 around now 7s have to be something I’m liking the look of, and I don’t with this, never have. Good review though.
mynameisblair
It’s absolutely not an average game (a 5), just to make that clear. Is is a hard one to rate, though, since it directly corresponds to your enjoyment of motion controls.
tonycawley
I know I understood that, like I said I’m aware 5 is the middle ground for Tsa. This all depends on what type of average we’re talking. But with so many 9s and 10s these days its rare that a 7 (which still denotes a good game) tempts me.
skibadee
EG gave Max Payne a 7 you love that Tony give it a try great review by the way Blair.
cc_star
73 is the average score of 484 TSA reviews listed on Metacritic… which isn’t all TSA reviews, but most of them I think.
According to Metacritic, TSA ranks games 1 point lower than their Metacritic average, 74.
Even the lowest scoring publication listed on Metacritic (with over 100 reviews) has an average of 59
So 5/50 may well be what we/you’d consider an average game, but 7ish is indeed an average of the games reviewed.
mynameisblair
“average game” by my standard means, “not good and not bad” (5), not “about the same as the mean value of all other games we’ve reviewed on PS3” (7), because that would be silly and doesn’t make sense. Can we not go into this again?
smokeybeef
Just replayed through KZ3 using the Move, was actually good fun (did it on DS3 first time). This should satisfy my next Move itch :)
Nate
I’ll definitely be picking this up at some point, though will wait for the inevitable price drop. Good to hear it has turned out to be a decent game, it had the potential to be an absolute stinker!